Facing competition from Division I, II and III schools at the Open New England Championships last Saturday, Grayce Selig '11 did not know what to expect from herself. However, Selig impressed in the 5-kilometer race, finishing seventh overall out of 322 runners with a time of 17 minutes, 47 seconds. Her overall time translates to an average 1-mile time of 5:43.

"I went out pretty conservatively, then moved my way up, just tried to pace myself off certain people," Selig said. "I kind of just moved up slowly. I didn't know what to expect, because it was really my first race."

Selig's seventh-place finish is all the more impressive considering that she was the fastest Division III runner,

She placed behind six Division I runners from three schools: The University of Maine, Boston College and Boston University.

Maine sophomore Corey Conner was the only runner to finish the race in less than 17 minutes. She won with a time of 16:54.

Overall, the Judges finished 22nd of 47 schools.

"I think by the end of the season, we should place a little higher," Selig said. "We didn't run our entire team, and a couple of people were sick. We should do a bit better."

Selig attributed the women's cross country team's potential to its dedication and training regimen during the summer and this season.

"We all train pretty hard over the summer," she said. "We have high mileage. We run every day, and that's definitely why we are all running so well this season. Everyone is putting in the work, and that's how you get the results."

The women's cross country team is next in action this Saturday at the University of Albany Invitational.